For as much rancor as Phoenix’s temporary food tax has generated, public hearings on the issue have not been well-attended.&nbsp;As of Wednesday afternoon, the city had received 14 public comments over the course of nine meetings.

Arizona farmers are upset with Congress for not approving an extension to the Farm Bill before the government shutdown. Some farmers are now worried about getting government loans for next year’s crops.

Gov. Jan Brewer and the director of Arizona’s Medicaid
program have asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s plan to
expand its health care program for the poor. The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit last month on behalf
of some state lawmakers and others.

The continued federal government shutdown is starting to affect some of Arizona's state agencies.&nbsp;According to the current state budget, the Arizona Department of Transportation is set to get about $178 million from the U.

A court-appointed monitor will oversee the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to make sure the department ends discriminatory practices. MCSO was accused of racial profiling as part of a civil suit. This is the result of a six year legal battle over a racial discrimination case against the sheriff’s department.

Former Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman announced he was running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Then last month, he was convinced by a number of supporters to run for treasurer instead. Secretary of State Ken Bennett has had an exploratory committee, and almost every Capitol-watcher fully expects him to run for governor, but it seems some people would prefer him as a corporation commission candidate.

MLB's regular season just ended, and NHL's year is getting started this week. In Arizona, that has fans optimistic, primarily because the Phoenix Coyotes are actually owned by private investors who really wanted the team, not just the NHL.

Nearly 20 people
sorted trash to separate recyclables for over two hours Wednesday morning.
Arizona State University School of Sustainability and Salt River Project employees sort through SRP's trash Wednesday morning at 27th Avenue Phoenix Transfer Station to pick out recyclable materials.

The online marketplace, introduced via the Affordable Care Act, went into effect Tuesday, and millions of Americans took a look as they tried to decide what health care coverage to purchase. What will you find as you start to search? Allen Gjersvig, director of health care innovation for the Arizona Alliance For Community Health Centers, gave some insight.

Some of us who have spent most of our lives in Phoenix can be a little sensitive, prickly even, when we are told the city’s history is, well, lacking. When a place grows so rapidly in a short period of a few decades, what does history even mean? Arizona State University professor of Spanish and women and gender studies David William Foster has written about how cultural figures and writers have shaped Phoenix.

The current edition of Phoenix Magazine includes a look back to the city’s history when President Richard Nixon helped make it possible for Mayor John Driggs and Phoenix to buy the Rosson House, a legendary mansion built in 1895.

A Utah judge will have two dozen candidates to pick from as she names a board to redistribute property in a polygamous Arizona town. The judge is preparing to name five to seven people for a board that will oversee the redistribution of homes and property in Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border.

Retired United States Air Force combat pilot
Martha&nbsp;McSally&nbsp;is again running for Congress. The unsuccessful 2012
Republican nominee in Arizona's
2nd Congressional District announced Tuesday that she will seek her party's
nomination in 2014.

Volunteers and staff of Arizona AARP are lobbying members of
Congress this week to not change the way cost-of-living adjustments are
calculated for Social Security recipients. A new report form the AARP Public
Policy Institute calculates that every benefit dollar generates two dollars in
spending by Arizona
individuals and businesses, adding almost $30 billion a year to the state’s
economy.

The budget impasse in Washington
has put Arizona’s
military installations into a partial shutdown. At Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, spokeswoman
Tanja Linton says about the vast majority of the 3,600 civilian workers on the
base personnel have been furloughed.

Another court has given the green light for Arizona lawmakers to
issue what amount to public education funding vouchers to parents to educate
their kids at any private or parochial school they want. Parents of students
with special needs and those in schools with a ‘D’ or lower rating, get what
are called empowerment scholarships, amounting to 90 percent of state aid.

As the shutdown of the federal government enters its second
day, Gov. Jan Brewer says she and her staff are keeping the pressure on Washington to break the
logjam. The governor says both sides are to blame and that there are several
places where the shutdown is impacting Arizona.

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